The law would prohibit people convicted of felonies and election law violations from participating in Connecticut's public-financing program for General Assembly and top-of-the-ticket races.

Without identifying a specific person, lawmakers indicated the law is based on the pending criminal case against Ernest E. Newton II, a Bridgeport Democrat who served more than four years in prison after pleading guilty to federal corruption and extortion charges in 2005.

Last year, Newton was arrested on state criminal charges after he allegedly used false information to obtain more than $80,000 in public funding for a losing bid to regain his state Senate seat. If convicted of the state charges, Newton could return to federal prison for violating his terms of release.

Sen. Anthony Musto, D-Bridgeport, committee co-chairman, said the aim is to prevent those convicted of election-related crimes from later receiving public money for political comebacks.

Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, called the measure "appropriate." It would not apply to those who made minor mistakes in campaign-finance requirements. The legislation next heads to the House floor.

In other action Wednesday, Musto received criticism from minority Republicans on the committee over a bill that would overturn a 2012 state Supreme Court ruling that gave the GOP the top line on last November's ballot.

Under the proposal, which also heads to the floor, top billing would belong to the party of the sitting governor.

Rep. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, called for rejection of the bill, citing the Supreme Court's ruling that said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's 2010 victory was assured by votes from a third-party cross endorsement on the Working Families Party ballot line.

"We are dictating, in my opinion, what laws suit our purposes," Hwang said. "Now we are in this process where we are changing the rules of the game and I think this is not an isolated instance of this occurring in this building.

"It has been stated by the Supreme Court that the Republican Party is on the top line. It is truly a poor exercise of the power that people have entrusted in us."

Musto said he resented Hwang's political implication, noting that the role of the Legislature is to rewrite laws as it sees fit.

"I think there's a little bit of hyperbole here today, and I would like to conduct these debates without it, for the most part," Musto said. "The intent of the law, I think, when it was first passed was that the person who wins the governorship was identified with a single party. This is what a court said on how the law was interpreted.

"That law, in some people's minds, was not meant to be interpreted that way. Whether we think it's a good idea, whether we dispute who should be there, are good-faith arguments I think we can all have without making statements that accuse the majority of trying to change the rules in the middle of the game or trying to circumvent the Constitution."

Also, the committee approved a bill that would give towns and cities the power to abbreviate legal notices in local newspapers and include links to further details online, in an attempt to save them money.